Procedural regulation of civil proceedings in court establishes no strict time periods concerning the end of a proceeding which is, eventually the court decision. On the other hand, pursuant to Article 48, paragraph 2 of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic, "Everybody has the right to have his or her case heard publicly, without unnecessary delays and in his or her presence...". This basic human right is extended in Section 100, paragraph 1 of the Slovak Code of Civil Procedure, which goes as follows: "As soon as the proceeding has been initiated, the court proceeds further, even if there are no further proposals, and in such a manner that the case be heard and decided as fast as possible." The issue of delays in legal proceedings has already been treated by the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic, which in a particular case proclaimed unnecessary delays in legal proceedings as violation of a basic human right, in accordance with the wording of the cited regulation of Article 48 of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic. The Slovak Code of Civil Procedure establishes also quite a few time periods concerning the procedural law. Section 204 establishes the time period available for appeal against a decision as 15 days since the decision delivery. Section 230 establishes the time period for a special legal remedy, in particular a re enforcement of proceedings as a limitation of 3 months since the reasons for re enforcement cited in the law were discovered and 3 years since the finality of judgment. Section 240 also establishes a time period of 3 months for a special legal remedy appeal against a decision, which can also be applied only on the basis of explicitly specified reasons, which in general represent violation of the law from the side of the court. Section 250, letter b) establishes a time period of two months allowed for a legal revision of a decision adopted by an administrative body. Section 160, paragraph 1 establishes a time period of three days for complying with the obligation resulting from a court decision, if the court does not specify a different time period. Only Section 75, paragraph 2 of the Slovak Code of Civil Procedure establishes a duty for the court to decide in the matter of application for preliminary measures.
Civil Code of Law also provides for a considerably large number of time periods concerning the material law. Sections 100 to 105 of the Civil Code of Law establish a time period for enforcement as being three years since the law could have been enforced for the first time. Section 106, the Civil Code of Law establishes a time period that allows to enforce a claim for damage of three years since the damage occurred, at the last, however, the claim has to be enforced within two years since the injured party found out who was responsible for the damage. The right to claim damage for a bodily injury never lapses, thus it can always be enforced. The right of submitting groundless pecuniary advantage is enforceable within the same time period, otherwise it lapses. The right to execute a valid court decision or administrative decision lapses after the term of ten years since that decision came into effect. For administrative proceedings there exists a key regulation the Act on Administrative Proceedings No. 71/1967, Digest of Laws, pursuant to which the proceedings in the Slovak Industrial Property Office are also carried out and, if a special legal regulation does not state it otherwise, Section 49 establishes time periods available for reaching decisions in administrative proceedings. In simple cases the respective administrative body is obliged to reach a decision without any delays, in other cases, if a special legal regulation does not state it otherwise, the administrative body is obliged to reach a decision within 30 days, in difficult cases within 60 days, since the proceedings initiation. If it is not possible with respect to the nature of the case to reach a decision within the established term of 60 days, an appellate body has to decide in matters of possible prolongation of the term. If the term is to be prolonged beyond 30, eventually 60 days, the party to the enforcement proceedings has to be duly notified. Pursuant to Section 54, a party to a proceeding is able to appeal against a decision within the time period of 15 days since the decision was announced, that means, in principle, delivered in writing. Concerning enforcement of trademark rights, this time period is extended up to one month. Other time periods with respect to enforcement of special legal remedies are established in sections 53 to 68. As far as the Act on Trademarks is concerned, the time periods allowing a party to appeal against a decision are modified, as has already been stated above in Section 42, and this prolongation applies also to grievances against a published application for a trademark according to Section 9, where the time period is up to three months.
